Cherry Stem Knots
by OogieBoogie
Summary: "Supposed fact: If you can tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue, it means you're a very good kisser. Hermione intends to find out if she is one." [cliche/fluffy/cute]. Inspired by one night of frustration at not being able to tie a knot on a cherry stem.


**Supposed fact: If you can tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue, it means you're a very good kisser.**

"Granger, what on earth are you doing?" came the voice of a much aggravated Draco Malfoy.

Hermione didn't answer, she was too riveted in operating her tongue in her mouth, trying to tie that blasted – _almost there_ – blasted cherry stem into a knot.

"Granger," Malfoy pressed impatiently.

Hermione groaned and gave up, feeling the stem revert to its original state.

"Ilmtyindodyanorwifmthung," she answered.  
"Excuse me?" Blond head tilted and silver eyes narrowed in confusion.

Hermione plucked the stem from her tongue and watched it crossly, gripped firmly between her thumb and index finger.

"I am trying to tie a knot with my tongue," she said with a defeated sigh.  
"Now why would you do that?" Malfoy asked, sipping his tea.

"Well, it is believed that if you can tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue, you're a very good kisser," she said briskly as she brought the stem back to her mouth, watching as Malfoy's face shifted from curiosity, to surprise and to disbelief.

"That's preposterous", he threw his head back and laughed. And if Hermione wasn't so absorbed with her cherry-stem-knotting then she would have actually admired how much more attractive Malfoy looked when he laughed.

After working with Malfoy for almost a year at the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, they had somehow formed a tentative friendship and their heated arguments had flowed into witty banter, the name-calling turned into almost-pet names and the nervous lunches had somehow become part of their daily ritual.

"And pray tell, where did you get this nugget of information from?" he asked, eyes still dancing with amusement.

"I overheard Lavender and her colleague talk about it in the loo the other day," Hermione admitted abashedly, "It's a Muggle thing."

"I see, and a cherry stem would be the best way to somehow prove that you're a fantastic kisser? Why, Granger? Have you sent all the boys whom you have kissed running after the first kiss?"

Hermione gasped, affronted.

"I'm not that terrible at kissing you know!" she shot back. Granted, Ron and Viktor were the only two boys she had ever kissed, and back then she didn't feel the need to force questions like 'so how was it?', 'was it good, am I good kisser?' on them.

"Plus it's just for fun, it is rather challenging you know."

"Give me one," Malfoy grabbed a cherry from Hermione's box (she had decided to buy a whole box of cherries to practice with) and in one graceful, swift movement, bit down on the cherry while pulling on the stem.

Watching him masticate the cherry, Hermione stuffed another stem into her mouth and began her conquest anew.

Malfoy's cherry stem disappeared into his mouth and Hermione waited. She needn't have waited long, as within a few seconds, he picked the stem from his mouth and presented it to her.

It was a perfect, tight knot.

"Wha - that - that's unfair!" Hermione sputtered, noting that Malfoy was sporting an expression that clearly showed how very pleased with himself he was – much like a well-fed cat.

"It was really very easy, Granger."

She blushed furiously at the knowledge that Malfoy's perfect knot translated into him being a very good kisser and she made a valiant effort of not letting images of Draco Malfoy kissing get to her.

Hermione would have asked him to teach her but the process, she imagined, would be very, very complicated.

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"Oh, for God's sake, Granger," Malfoy rolled his eyes and sighed heavily after watching Hermione grab a cocktail that had a cherry in it.

They were at the Ministry soiree and they were required to attend, so they came together - whether it counted as a date, Hermione didn't dare ask and instead chose to shrug it off.

"You're not still adamant on not letting it go, are you?"

"Nwop," Hermione answered, cherry stem in her mouth.

"Oh for the love -" Malfoy rolled his eyes again and grabbed another cocktail for himself.

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"Granger, please. It's really hard to concentrate on discussing this case when you insist on moving your mouth unattractively like that. You look like a troglodyte."

Hermione paid him no mind as she continued twisting and biting the stem in her mouth.

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"No, please. Please don't -"

"Thank you!" Hermione said gratefully as the bartender dropped a cherry into Hermione's drink.

Malfoy groaned and then glared at the bartender. He had asked Hermione if she wanted a cherry, to which Draco obdurately refused on her behalf. The bartender – "_the idiot!" –_ decided to listen to Hermione's 'yes' instead.

"Aww, don't be such a sourpuss, pretty boy – here, have one," the bartender winked at him and watched Malfoy lasciviously, suspending a cherry in front of Malfoy's mouth.

Draco glared at him some more and continued nursing his drink.

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x. x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

Draco was getting a headache.

Cherries on cakes, ice-creams and most desserts would be missing if Hermione was around – and he had half a mind to just hide all the cherries in the world if he could just get her to _stop_.

He almost forgot what Hermione looked like when her mouth wasn't so busy trying to tie that bloody knot.

"I swear," he thought viciously, "If I see _one _more _goddamn _cherry near that woman I'm going to _kill_ whoever gave it to her."

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"Yeah, just give me a minute, will you?" Hermione said, entering the discussion room, to see Malfoy already waiting for her with stacks of files.

Draco waited patiently, as she dropped her files onto the table and sauntering off to their shared office again.

Oh, well, it was only a quarter to 2 p.m., and they agreed that they would start their case discussion at sharp 2 p.m. Draco didn't mind, Hermione was brilliant at work, getting things done efficiently and smartly, they almost never had to stay over to –

Draco's eyes narrowed as Hermione came strolling into the discussion room with a box in her hand.

"What the bloody hell is _that_, Granger?" Draco hissed, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"It's, umm, you know what this is, Malfoy," her face turned into the colour of magenta as she shut the door behind her.

"_Cherries_?" Draco seethed, getting to his feet.  
"Yes, I just got them earlier on – did you know that these cost …"

She was cut off by Draco marching resolutely towards her, the vein in the middle of his forehead popping out prominently.

"You know what, Granger, I've _just about had it_!" He grabbed the box of cherries from Hermione's hands and walked towards the large window at the end of the discussion room.

"Wait, Malfoy – what are you -" she chased after him, and to her stupefaction, he had opened the window and tossed the whole container out of it.

"Malfoy!" she screeched indignantly, "Why did you do that?!"  
Malfoy looked not at all contrite about tossing her box of cherries out of the window, in fact, he looked relieved.

"I am sick and tired of you and your cherry business, I was just hoping that it was just a bloody phase and that it would be over soon, but _no_," Malfoy said icily, "You just had to keep at it until you bloody well succeeded – bloody Gryffindors! I was going _mental_; you were constantly trying to knot those cherry stems and failing – _lather, rinse, repeat AD NAUSEUM!"_

"I just wanted to know if I was a good kisser!" Hermione yelled back, fists clenched – suddenly thankful that the discussion room was soundproofed.

"You don't need _bloody cherries _to do that!" He retorted.

"Then how else am I going to do it, O Mighty Genius?!"

"You're smart, Granger, I'm sure you'll figure it out," he snarled as he sunk back into his chair, "Now can we _please_ get to work?"

Hermione didn't know what made her do it.

Maybe, just maybe, it was because of how _delicious _Malfoy looked when he was angry like that. Or maybe it was because of how _delectable _he looked with his face flustered and vein prominent in the middle of his forehead, eyes flashing with anger. Or maybe it was those years of noticing how _lovely _Malfoy's lips truly were.

Or maybe she just really wanted to know whether she was a good kisser or not – but she suspected this reason paled in comparison to the previous ones.

She walked up to him, seized his tie (which looked completely dashing on him), and _pulled_. Before Malfoy got a word in, she had planted her mouth on his and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of one Draco Malfoy.

She kissed, nipped, nibbled and licked at Malfoy's lips – he was too shocked to move within the first few seconds, and when she was about to pull away, Malfoy grasped her face and kissed her back ardently.

Malfoy tasted lovely – better than cherries – he tasted like peppermint and … and he tasted like Christmas for some odd reason and Hermione could find no wrong in that since she bloody loved Christmas. And now she bloody loved kissing Draco Malfoy.

Her heart was pumping furiously and her knees were jellified and it was crazy and wonderful and chaotic and she liked it.

They pulled away almost remorsefully, and Hermione lifted her hands from Draco's shoulders _(how the hell did those end up there?) _and Draco had to remove his hands from her waist _(and those, too?)_.

Silence reigned for a moment before Draco cleared his throat, his cheeks dusted with flecks of red.

"Well, that's settled then," he said quietly and monotonously, "You are a fantastic kisser. Well done, Granger."  
"Yeah, thank you. How very magnanimous of you," she answered as quietly and monotonously.

They sat on their chairs, Hermione almost missing it entirely and nearly falling on her bum whereas Draco dropped onto his very heavily.

They avoided looking at each other thereafter, both looking at their files and hands resting flaccidly on the table.

"Shall we?" Draco began.  
"Yes, we shall," she cleared her throat.

Somehow, the tension eased, but throughout the entire discussion, Draco kept the same blush that he had sported earlier on and she suspected that she had the same on her too.

She kept looking up at him when he wasn't looking but somehow they'd catch each others' eyes and look away abruptly. One thing Hermione noticed after that though was that after short moments of eye contact, Draco would smile ever so slightly and she found herself doing the same.

Hermione continued her work with new-found enthusiasm, knowing exactly what to do after they were finished.

She was going to ask Draco out for dinner. And perhaps next time, somewhere down the road, try to find out whether almonds _really_ were some form of aphrodisiac?

**FIN!**

**Teehee, hope you enjoyed that one!  
Happy 1****st**** of August!**


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